1. The temporal values of highly prized gifts
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 1 Corinthians 13:8–10 (ESV)
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 1 Peter 1:10-11 (ESV)
9 . . . the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:9 (ESV)
2. The anticipated values in the age of completion
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:11–12 (ESV)
27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:27 (ESV)
7 . . . Moses . . . 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD . . . Numbers 12:7-8 (ESV)
9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV)
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 (ESV)
3. The enduring values of faith, hope, and love
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three . . . 1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
7 Love . . . believes all things, hopes all things . . . 1 Corinthians 13:7 (ESV)
4. The greatest value of love
13 . . . the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. Galatians 5:6 (ESV)
20 For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. 2 Corinthians 12:20 (ESV)